Meaningless Thoughts

Sorry I kind of abandoned this thing. I have a job, and I'm in love with plurk. Yes, I've been watching Doctor Who, and yes I did write up a ton of entries on my LJ. So you can just head over and read the last 8 or so entries.

Doctor Who 4.11
Ever since I was little, I never liked the what-if episodes that show a very different path and life. I don't really know why, but they just leave me feeling very, very sad. So this episode essentially had several strikes against it before it began. But props to me for realizing it was a "what-if" ep from the promo.

So while I may not love the episode like many other people do, I liked it a lot, all things considered. Reasons: Rose and Donna. Donna and Rose. I love those two together! They just played so well off of each other. And Rose! Good to see Pete's World Torchwood taught her well. I was so proud watching her be all expository and technobabbling. She was still Rose, but she had bits of the Doctor worked in with her. The way she strutted around, knowing everything. The way she looked at the trouble and adventure. She had this smile on her face when she explained things to Donna when she ended up at U.N.I.T. Not to mention she did the whole saluting thing that the Doctor did. I love that they had that connection, even though they didn't know it. I think the most Doctory Rose moment was when she told Donna she was "the most important woman in the whole of creation". If that didn't come straight from the Doctor's playbook... I smiled with that line and the way Rose said it. Again, so much like the Doctor. I'm not going to lie, I love that she's adopted much of his personality, not that I blame her, the dude's kind of infectious with his clever words and strutting. Oh the strutting.

Oh lord, I missed Rose. I missed the way she took things on, I missed the way she talked, I missed chavtastic Rose! And what I love even more if that Billie loves being Rose. I watched the Confidential episode, which means this episode was pretty damn important to me, and she just seemed to happy to be back. David was giddy as can be about it, but Billie was so adorable. So this return was planned when she left, I thought RTD had just BSed that, but apparently Billie said the arrangements were made right as she decided to leave, which kind of makes me love Billie even more. Too bad I can't get through an episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl without getting really skeeved out. I'd like to watch her every week, maybe I'll try to watch it more. But back to the cast, David is as adorable as ever. He kept pestering RTD to explain 'Bad Wolf', and the way that he talks about the show is like a fan. Actually, all the actors talk about it like fans, I love that. They just have this keen insight into the story and the characters, it's really impressive.

Oh Doctor Who, I love that you are a family friendly program that isn't afraid to nuke cities and imply genocide! That's what makes this show so brilliant, it doesn't dumb down reality to fit the younger demographic. It really is a show for everyone, adults and children. But not going to lie, this is the kind of episode that would have turned me off of a show for a long time if I saw it when I was 10. I think I had similar experiences when I watched shows that did this, I just got so sketched out that I had to walk away from the show. So... good thing more kids aren't nutty like me, right?

I see a few people wanting to rewatch "The Runaway Bride", because they can't remember why they hated Donna so. I'm more than a little curious myself, I hated her. I just could not stand the sight of her. But watching that little bit included in the episode, and eventually the scene that led to the Doctor's death, that sounded like the Donna we knew. And to be frank, the Donna we saw this week was the angry, shouty, kind of funny Donna that seemed straight out of "Runaway Bride". This week's Donna was very different from the compassionate and caring that makes her a great companion. I'm debating watching it again, maybe I hated that Donna because she was snippy with the Doctor, and nobody does that to our pretty boy. Back to Donna, I was dying seeing her go off on her boss after she got fired. That was so amazing, and stealing the stapler? Perfect.

So... is Donna special? She's got her own unique time signal thingy. Sorry, I didn't pay enough attention during the exposition to really get what that means. So, was Donna teleported to the parallel world? Was she physically in that tent, but her mind went elsewhere? To another Donna in another world? I'm still shakey on the details of how this worked, might just chalk this up to timey-wimey stuff. But back to Donna and her parallel worlds. What role will she play in the big finale? Maybe she's like they key to keeping the universes safe. I'm not going to lie, I wished that Davies seeded this in throughout the series. I understand that not everything is planned in advanced, but this felt distinctly tacked on in this episode. Lets see how this plays out. I'm still worried about Donna, I don't think she's still in the clear, safety wise. Remember, River Song acted like Donna had died when she met the Doctor.

4.12 Preview
OK, I just need to take a moment to flip the fuck out: Sarah Jane - Check. Martha Jones - Check. Jack Harkness - Check. Ianto and Gwen - Fuck Yes! How did I NOT KNOW GWEN AND IANTO WOULD BE IN THE SHOW? Like, that is just so incredible, having those two meet the Doctor (I hope anyway). After all the vagueness Jack gives them, they deserve some info straight from the horse's or Time Lord's mouth. And Martha! And Jack! OK, I am so pumped for Rose to see Jack again. I wonder if she knows she brought him back forever? The Rose we have now is very different from the Rose who absorbed the Time Vortex and saved Jack. I wonder how she'll react, I don't even think she remembers. And Jack's always had a little something for Rose, well to be fair Jack's got a little something for everyone, but Jack will be so thrilled to see her. I keep replaying this moment in my head from "Bad Wolf" when Jack realizes Rose hasn't been vaporized. "Rose could still be alive!" He's going to be happy to see her again.

I know this is a really big longshot, but Gwen/Gwyneth from "The Unquiet Dead"... Maybe it'll come up. Like a line that she looks familiar, or maybe the Doctor will see something very odd about her. Or... you know... it could just be let go.

Rose and Martha! I've been looking forward to this for some time. Mainly because Martha got sick of hearing about Rose. In "Utopia" she had this line when Jack mentioned Rose. "OH! She's blond!" We'll see if Martha's really over the Doctor when his old companion comes back.

Donna and Rose already met, sort of. Now that she knows, or will know, that it's Rose, I wonder if she'll react differently to her. I don't see why, Donna just knew that Rose was gone, so she'll probably be happy for her.

And Rose and the Doctor. Well, we've already seen him be terrified by her warning (loved it!), but I don't doubt that we'll see some incredible hugging. Oh there will be hugging. And tears. Lots and lots of tears, mostly mine. I've only been waiting two years for this, that's all. I wonder if Rose will notice a change in the Doctor. I wonder if the Doctor notices how much Rose has changed? All I know is I can't wait. Is it Saturday yet?

Thought I'd do an update on the Transformers 2 filming. I saw them setting up, and tomorrow and Tuesday will be the shooting days. There was a helicopter with a big round thing attached to its nose, which I'm guessing is the camera, and they were doing aerial shots. It was so cool, the helicopter was flying almost sideways so the camera was facing the college campus. It's looking like my sister, her friend, and I will be getting up super early and spending the day stalking the set. Rainn Wilson will be there, so I'm going to try to get him to sign my second season Office DVD set. Shia is apparently kind of a douche, the PA's described him as "inaccessible", I hope Rainn is much nicer, he seems nice. Check out my Twitter or Plurk pages for updates, I'll be checking in there.

I am so not used to seeing Billie Piper on a major US network. OK, so Showtime isn't your ABC, NBC, CBS, or Fox, but it's still bigger than Sci-fi or BBC America. All these commercials for Secret Diary of a Call Girl are making me feel both awkward and happy. I mean, awk because it's Rose Tyler in her skivvies, but excited because it's ROSE FUCKING TYLER. Oh I hate the fangirl in me.

In other news: new Doctor Who this week. I have some hope for "Midnight", and then... ROSE! Hurray! So here's what I'm wondering: We know that there will be those specials next year, so who will be the companion? Martha's got her own life, but she could pop up when the Doctor visits Earth. Donna may or may not be around for it. Billie's got her own show, though I don't know what's going to happen past the second series. I think she's filming it now, so ostensibly she could come back for a special, but don't hold your breath. So... new mini companions? Jack? I guess maybe it'll be more obvious after the finale, where I'm sure Davies will tack on a completely unnecessary "cliffhanger" which will interrupt the emotional end and my post-Rose crying.

Ugh, Sci-Fi: please stop putting BSG on giant hiatuses: No new BSG until 2009. OK, to be a little more fair, it seems this is because of the post production needed for each episodes, which are kind of CGI-heavy.

So, I think I'm going to get the iPhone. I just need to jump, get it over with, you know? Stop thinking, stop ruminating, just do it!

I love plurk! It's like twitter, but with more interacting with users. It's hard to meet people via Twitter, but with Plurk it's really easy.

So I've been working for a few days, and it's decent. There are some nice co-workers and some annoying ones. I've had a pretty nice customer experience, people seem to like sweet little me. Oh little do they know! I hate that I don't have a fixed schedule week to week, it constantly changes, which makes finding time for doctor's appointments and movies and other things.

Now... the iPhone. It's fabulous and awesome and cheap! $199 for the low end with a 2 year deal. The bad news? The plans: It's $30 data plan + voice plan, which for me would probably be $59.99 a month plus $5.00 for 200 txt messages. So we're at $94.99 a month for 2 years... Part of me thinks I might be better off getting an iPod touch, because I'd mainly be using the iPhone for webbrowsing, and most of my things, calendar - mail - twitter - plurk - news. I'm not sure I really need 3G browsing all the time, and by going off the Verizon plan, I no longer have free texting and calling with most of my family and friends... And Verizon has the best service in my local town and all over. So yes, I'm kind of chickening out.

I finished up Life on Mars and I had lots and lots of thoughts. Good thoughts! I also have, for the first time in decades, thoughts on Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who.

Life on Mars
I. Just. Had. A. Thought. Period. The end of Life on Mars reminded me of the end of the fourth season of Farscape when John decides to leave Earth forever, despite spending so much time trying to get back. Very reminiscent.

And a little like the fourth season of Lost, how the Six get off the island, but Jack needs to get back. In fact, I dare say this is a fairly common theme on second thought, but I bloody loved the way Life on Mars pulled it off. It's just blowing my mind right now.

When I described the Life on Mars finale, my sister immediately thought about the Sopranos and the letdown many people felt. I was one of those viewers, but the ending of Life on Mars seemed to have some sort of conclusion, Sam was happy.

Now, did he or didn't he? Die, I mean. He jumped off the roof, he's back in  1973, and kisses Annie, jumps into Hunt's car, then the radio catches onto the real world where we hear the doctor say he's losing Sam. The car drives away and the creepy girl walks by, looks at the camera, and turns off the "tv". I kinda see that as Sam dying, she represented the balance between reality and the coma world, and by shutting off the link, it means that world ends. That or Sam's in a permanent coma and we, the viewer and the outside world, are cut off forever. Doesn't mean that Sam's dead, which is interesting.

The whole concept of what's real and what isn't really blows my mind. We saw the "real" world and how it wasn't as exciting or fun or meaningful for Sam as the coma one, and he chose to live a "lie" rather than walk through 2006. Any show that promotes delusions over reality is OK with me!

And I know there's a spin off in the 80's, I'm not sure how that fits into my plot. Maybe somehow Sam did travel back in time, parallel universe? and someone else ends up there in similar circumstances. Doesn't matter, I'm not going to watch it. The whole premise seems kind of shoddy, I don't buy it.

Battlestar Galctica 4.11
I actually have thoughts. Last week I thought that episode was a complete crap fest full of dumb decisions and obnoxious characters (Lamkin's insane? Lee's President? Tigh's in charge? There's a Cylon-Cylon baby?) A number of people assumed these things would play out during the next few episodes, but it looks like nothing from 4.10 will actually matter at all based on this episode. I'm guessing next week will pick up with Roslin and Adama coming back, so everything will return to pre-4.10 status... What a waste of an episode.

I mean, why couldn't this episode have been last week. This is the second time something's happened and the show's taken us away from the action for a week. Last time it was the big Cylon-Cylon showdown, this time it was the Cylon jump. But that aside, the episode still had some weak elements, but much better than last week. Still not up to BSG standards.

Anyways, my favorite moment from the episode, easily: Three to Roslin on the final five:

Three: You mean you don't know you're one of them? *music crescendos, then stops abruptly*

*Three laughs*
*my heart races, I laugh*

Well, there goes my Roslin is a Cylon theory. Bugger, it would have been a terrific surprise and plot twist. But now that they've gone with the fake out, it's not going to happen.

I kept wanting Billy to show up in Roslin's visions. I kind of want him to be the final Cylon. But I'm thinking it may be Cally, since we've seen that maybe Cylon-Cylon babies can happen, no one is ruled out. Hell, Helo could be a toaster. Maybe Dualla, they really haven't given her anything to do.

Doctor Who 4.09
Well, this is one of the rare instances where I liked the second part more than the first part of the multi-parter. It's like a theme with me that I fall head over heels with the first episode, but by the second I'm somewhat let down. In this case, I was a little disappointed by the first episode, but this was back to great.

For a Steven Moffat episode, it was not his strongest. But hey, the man's written some of the best episodes of the entire run of the show, so I'll cut him some slack.

This was a really sucky episode for the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor had to deal with River Song, who was someone ridiculously special to future him, and Donna had to deal with getting married, falling in love, and ending up missing the real him by *this much*. Ugh, why do you do this Mr. Moffat? I know it would be redic to have a random tagalong for Donna, but can't someone be happy? Especially since I'm pretty sure she's going to die... Boo, why did Donna have to bring up the River Song's awkwardness upon meeting Donna... At least she's not dumb.

I can say the only moment when I jumped was when Miss Evangelista removed her veil to her mangled face. I wish I had more moments, maybe if the Vashta Nerada were not this invisible swarm, maybe if they were somewhat corporeal, that would have flipped me out. I dunno, I could have used some visual fear.

Thoughts on River, so there was no altering of timelines occurred, so does that mean we'll see River again? Maybe in one of the specials next year, or maybe in the first series Steven Moffat runs, maybe he had the idea for her as a companion... Nevertheless, he's definitely set River up in the timeline before Ten regenerates, and after some period of time in which he ages. Now someone argued with me that River referred to the Doctor looking young purely in his eyes, but I also think she referred to his physical aging as well. It was a little ambiguous, maybe in case Steven needed to pull out this little trick earlier than he planned. Or he could just dump the River plots, and whenever Ten regenerates, it'll be assumed the River thing occurred off camera.

Spoilers! How noble of the Doctor and Donna not to look. I half expected someone to come at the end and just take it, all creepy like. But nope, the end just led into a trailer for "Midnight", which makes sense. The Doctor and Donna deserve a vacation planet after the badness of this episode. And after next week, "Turn Left" and ROSE!! ZOMG YES! Hopefully Rose will show up at the end of "Midnight", which will be nice.

Tomorrow's the WWDC, World Wide Developers Conference, and the rumor mill is saying there will be a new iPhone. I've been looking into new phones with Verizon, but I can't do it. Every phone I just compare to the iPhone, and I think it's time I just accept that there is no iPhone killer, any touch screen device won't hold a candle to the standard set by Apple. Since I've got my job, I'll be paying for the service and everything, no more phones from Mommy and Daddy... It'll be expensive, and I might chicken out...

Wednesday I went into NYC to see the live Diggnation taping, the first on the east coast. I've been a fan of Diggnation from very early on. I dragged along a friend of mine, who as none too pleased to be there. We waited on line for almost two hours, nearly didn't get in due to crowds and raising the age limit, but at around 7pm we finally got in. It was packed, like people all around, but my friend and I weaselled our way to near the front. I never pegged Diggnation to have an opening act, but they did. It was kind of a Revision3 lovefest, starting off with Scam School, which was this dude who did crazy shit with fire and lots of awesome stuff. Cool, dude, he wanted everyone to subscribe to his iTunes podcast, basically to break iTunes and rising to the top spot in the Tech News section. So if you get a chance, maybe help him out. It was awesome.

Then Kevin and Alex briefly appeared, and I totally wigged out, because like KEVIN ROSE FTW. Yeah, I kind of love him. They told us how there were people out in the rain, this was about an hour after we actually got in, so everyone was pretty shocked how many fans came out. So after a lot of waiting around and a lot of sweating, Jay Adelson and Kevin came out and talked about new Digg features, mainly the new comment system, which everyone agrees was a great improvement over the old one. Finally things started moving along, with Kevin and Alex coming out with "boy band" mics and trying to get them working. They killed time by chugging beer and being generally awesome. Eventually, they gave up on the new expensive tech and resorted to mic stands. I was a little bummed about where they did the actual show, because there was the super tall guy in the very front who completely blocked my view of Kevin and Alex. But I thoroughly enjoyed the whole show, which you'll see when you watch the podcast. There were all these little jokes and mentions that I'm not sure how people who weren't there would get, but maybe that happens every live show, which I've seen. Kevin and Alex said they wouldn't do shots, designating some girls in the front (I wasn't the only one!) to be the "shot girls", but that kind of broke down and they did a shot of whiskey. After that they started getting drunk, which was hilarious for me and my friend to watch. Seriously, the alcohol just makes things even better. Sure they cover top stories, but the booze gets them on tangents and other amazing stuff.

After the show, the guys had to pee, announcing it like any proud drunk, and said they would make their way around and say hi to everyone. Well, that didn't exactly work out as they planned, they kinda got mobbed coming out of the bathroom, then hopped back on stage, jumping off towards the back of the crowd, which then led to a new crowd forming. Basically, by this time I had already told my Mom I would be out over an hour earlier, so I just quickly looked for Kevin, picking to say 'hi' to him over Alex. After locating, I snuck around and I did get to say my piece, "ZOMG I'm a big fan... Really appreciate you coming to the east coast... Waiting for this for a long time..." Kevin was really nice, I got two pictures, both are awkwardly zoomed in because the kid operating my camera couldn't figure out the zoom, which I forgot to unzoom. But you can definately tell that's Kevin, and I'll know it's me, which is really all that counts. ZOMG I totally got to touch Kevin, like he put his arm around my waist and I was just so glad to be there. I've been watching the podcast since summer 2005 in its early episodes, first listening, then watching. And I've been waiting ever since they announced their first live show for them to hit up the big apple. I was thrilled to be there over two years later, when they finally did!

I have a ton of pictures which I will upload sometime between now and eternity, I like having my pictures for myself, as opposed to on flickr, because no one I know really sees them, anyway. I showed my mom, who I needed to BEG to let me go out to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which was a pretty nice area, but wasn't always. She and my sister saw Kevin and agreed that he is so adorable. Because he really is. Kevin, if you ever see this, marry me, dude. Seriously.

One of the first things I thought when I heard about the US version of Life on Mars was, "I gotta watch the English version." So the other day I finished up the first series, and it was amazing. John Simm <33 . But it also got me thinking: Will this work in the US? Well, there are a few factors that play a part in the success in these translations.

One is how relateable is it? Well, a show about a man transported back to the 70's? That could work in the US. It would actually be interesting to see the US thirty years ago and how someone would react to that. One of the things about The Office is that it can be adapted to any culture because it relies so heavily on the office dynamic. The US verion of The Office worked because it developed its own style and voice and stopped trying to be a carbon copy. If Life On Mars defines itself using a US culture and maybe a different plot, it has a shot. If they carbon copy the UK's plot, that could be tiring and open itself up to criticism and comparisons. If I'm constantly comparing the US and UK versions of The Office without any identical plots, imagine how critical I'll be with identical plots.

The next factor is casting, the cast needs to stand out and be different. I know the translation will keep all the characters from the UK one, but if the writers can add their own editorial touches on them, it'll have a shot. I keep bringing up the US Office because it's a rare instance where a UK show has successfully morphed into a wonderful US program. The Office developed background characters that were never really touched upon in the UK. If Life on Mars devotes time to the personal lives of the background players, it will not only fill up some of the 20 hours in the season, but it will also add something new.

This leads me into the most important factor: longevity. Well, Life on Mars doesn't quite have that. The UK show only had two series, and one of the most powerful parts of the first series was the frustration. Watching it, I just wanted him to wake up, like on the verge of yelling at the TV. But the brilliant thing was Sam felt it, too. He was just losing it, being so close to consciousness, then having it slip away. The viewers were right there with him. I'm downloading the second series right now, but I'm guessing this'll happen through the second series and it'll maybe end with him waking up. *ps, don't tell me how it ends, I'm just speculating* Now, the major problem with UK to US mutations is the length. For some reason US viewers love 20-24 episodes of a show, at least on the major networks. The UK has a powerful belief in less in more. Some shows run for two series, 16 episodes total, and end on a high note, not overstaying its welcome. I loved that about The Office and I'm loving that about the UK Life On Mars. Imagine five seasons, 22 episodes a piece, of Sam Tyler wanting to wake up. That'll get old, annoying and won't work. So the show pretty much has an expiration date, which is never good. Personally, this is my biggest concern, because the first season of the US one will contain more episodes than the entire run of the UK show. If the writers don't head in a different direction, the show will have some serious problems in the long run.

OK, on a side note, I'm kind of excited for Secret Diary of a Call Girl to air on Showtime. I know I watched it and was completely weirded out by nekked, whore Billie Piper, but I saw a huge billboard in NYC advertising it and I was just, "ZOMG BILLIE PIPER." I wonder if she'll do any press for the premiere? I'd kind of love it if Billie were on some late night show, I'd kind of die. Before I didn't think about press for the UK import, but a big billboard with that show and Weeds is a pricey investment. Showtime must have a lot of faith in the show.

January 2009 can't come soon enough.

Lost 4.12
I rewatched the episode from last week tonight because I heard there would be more footage of the press conference. The only intereesting thing I recalled was that in the cover story, Boone, Charlie, and Libby survived, but all died on the island, Charlie dying a few days before the rescue. :(

Lost 4.13/14
Wow. I can say I really enjoyed the first hour more than the second. I'm not sure why, I guess there was tons of shit happening, and I kept looking at the clock, and I was like "WOAH WE'RE NOT EVEN HALF WAY THROUGH THE FIRST HALF!" in a good way. Not in an exasperated way. To be clear, I'll try to refer to the first hour as "Part Two" and the second hour as "Part Three", because two weeks ago was "Part One". So I enjoyed "Part Two" more than "Parts One and Three", not to say those other episodes didn't have their moments.

I guess I'll just do a huge review, lumping in things from both episodes. They're starting to blend together, so I can't just break it up.

-- I really enjoyed seeing the continuation of the scene we saw one year ago. It was a really nice touch, even if it only revealed Jeremy Bentham, something that meant nothing to us viewers. I liked seeing it tie in with the context of what we've learned about Jack through the flash forwards.

-- How to move an island, in one easy step: push the frozen wheel. I don't know, but the entire thing felt a little anti-climactic. I mean, there's this huge build up to the Orchid, and then Ben just trashes the time travel machine and pushes a frozen wheel and JUMPS A YEAR INTO THE FUTURE. Oh, and it moves the fucking island. Intense. Well, now we know how Ben ended up in the jungle. Nice touch with the arm wound, clarifies that Ben did jump about a year into the future and it wasn't some other occasion he tried to move the island.

-- Ben kind of rocked though. I mean, he basically made me realize something very important: TIME TRAVELING BUNNIES FTW!

He also had my favorite exchange of the evening:
Locke: "You just killed everybody on that boat!"
Ben: "So?"

That was the quintessential Ben Linus moment, I mean he was just so cold and distant, it rocked. But then, when Ben got his parka and said goodbye, it was such a sad moment, like we really saw what the island meant to him. To never go back, he developed his identity around the island, Ben Linus ruled a whole civilization there, and he didn't know what would happen after. Also? His little snide "I hope you're happy Jacob" bit reaffirmed my theory that Ben was responsible for Jacob asking Locke for help. Jacob needing someone who wasn't Ben leading, hence giving him cancer. That Jacob fellow is slick.

-- So Locke is the new head Other. I think we all saw this coming, but it was still creepy watching Richard basically bow down to his new overlord. But it looks like the island might be moved in the future, as Locke does end up off of it. Or maybe he found that magic box (does the dude get that there MIGHT not be a physical box, but actually a metaphor?) and wished himself off. But you have to wonder, why do all of the Oceanic six (plus Desmond?) need to go back? Surely the Others have enough guns and things that go boom to handle the freighter people. Or maybe there's another threat coming. Perhaps John is trying to help them, because the Six are getting creepy undead messengers.

Back to Locke, so Jeremy Bentham, hmm. The dude must've done something really bad to force the Oceanic Six to never use his name. Who is he, Voldemort? But nonetheless, me, one year ago, was right. I did a little shriek and happy dance when I saw Locke in that coffin. I wonder why the corpse needs to go back? I totally didn't think it would be Locke tonight. I was thinking it was Ben, but I couldn't reason why the Oceanic Six wouldn't use his name. Ben's done such horrible shit, you'd think they'd have already reached the point when his name would be forbidden. So I was thinking it was Christian Shephard in the casket, but that would have been a really confusing mindfuck. Then at the last minute I was wavering between Christian and Desmond. I kept thinking who else left the island with wasn't one of the Oceanic Six, and I could only think of Des. But thankfully he's still alive and kicking. I hope.

-- Claire!!!!!!! OK, she's so dead. You can't be a dead island messenger without being dead (OK she was in a dream, but I'm calling Island) Claire was always this quiet, calm character, I was so pumped to see her flip a shit in that dream about Aaron. Sure it was tame, but there was power, I liked it!

-- DESMOND! I worried for like 5 seconds that he died in the helicopter crash. Like yelling "NONONONONO!" at the TV. But after going to first base with Jack, everything worked out, and he got to go to first with Penny! Imagine how horrible it would be if Des died and Penny received his dead body :( I shudder to think about that. But yeah, we had this incredibly sweet payoff with Desmond and Penny, I teared up. I loved how Des, like a little kid, showed off Penny to everyone. Heh.

-- So what do you think happened to Faraday? I mean, he was sort of away from the island, but I didn't see the little boat left behind... I think he got teleported, right? I hope he's not in some weird ass limbo, or in the void (don't get me started on voids) He's probably with the island, with Charlotte. Charlotte's got something interesting. Miles did his eerie "I'm a ghost whisperer and kind of psychic" thing, and basically we know that Charlotte was on the island before. She told Daniel something about searching for the place she was born... I'm going with the Island as the place of birth. I wonder how you put that down on a college application "City: Deserted island that bends the properties of time and space."

-- Hurley is a wackjob. I mean, we knew he was... Well things could get dicey in the brain sometimes. But playing chess with Eko... Yikes. I mean, sure Jack's been seeing his dead father, but I don't see why Hurley would get overwhelmed with ghost messengers. I buy the Island sending Charlie, but Eko? Yeah, doubt it. Unless Hurley's got a bizarrely strong connection to the Island... Or not... Watch Hurley end up being the only Oceanic Six sane enough to do anything. Heh.

-- Jin. Is he, or isn't he? Sun thinks he's dead, or does she? Why on earth would she team up with Widmore unless he has something... or someone. Maybe Sun doesn't know about Ben and Locke running around trying to get people back to the island, so she's left to team up with Widmore to go back and hope Jin is there. Because he wasn't in the explosion, he was on deck, and after the first boom, he could easily have jumped off and swam to shore. I don't see that being so farfetched, I mean Sawyer did it! Dunno, watch tomorrow the executive producers tell us Jin is dead, and all this spec is useless. SEE WHAT YOU DID TO ME BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!

-- So everyone's got to go back. Jack's going to have a tough time working that out, I mean, Kate's not going to take Aaron at all, so that seems to ruin the plans right off the bat. Everything pretty much came full cirle with the flash forwards. They served their purpose of showing the off island life and needing to go back. Now that we've seen them leave, it was a nice way to round out the whole story telling device.

I'm starting to see how next season's going to be confusing with present/future/past. This season we could rely on the island as a standard point of reference, December 2004. Present. But now it appears the action with the Oceanic Six will occur three years(?!) after that time. My mother, with the established period as present, couldn't keep track of the time shifting and was left confused. It also didn't help that she didn't regularly watch. But nonetheless, without the fixed reference point, will we just shift from three years future off island, to present (2004/5) on the island? Not done properly, that could be a little wacky.

OH Frak! BSG aired in the UK Wednesday Night! WTF! How did I not know?! *downloads* Guess I'll have to watch it tomorrow afternoon... I haven't written much about this season, maybe I'll do a roundup post tomorrow, when it's not 3am...

Alright, my brief Lost thoughts before the finale. So, I fell pretty far behind in my episode recaps, but I figured I'd just do a huge post about random things. Recaps/Theories/Whatever. Sorry about the weird flow, I copied these from some forum posts I wrote over the past few weeks.

Lost
4.11
So for those who didn't realize, Richard doesn't age. Period. Also, apparently Locke was supposed to be the Ben, but took the stupid knife. No wonder Richard was eager to keep Locke around with the Others. Thought: If Ben wasn't supposed to be the leader, could that be why Jacob wanted Locke's help?
Could Jacob's mojo be messed up because Ben's not the right leader? Could that be why the Monster is running about? Because the leadership is all out of whack? Interesting. Maybe that's why Ben got sick, it was Jacob's way of telling Ben to "GET LOST!" (no pun intended).

4.12
This episode was very much a set up. I lost it when Sayid reunited with Nadia. Right when they were about to get off the plane, I told my sister, "If Nadia's there I'm going to cry." Turns out I had to wait a little bit, but tears flowed.

Personally, I was just a little disappointed, because not much actually happened. Next episode, that's when the action's going to happen. But for a set up, this was pretty good. I'm beginning to see how the finale's going to play out, we're going to see Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sun, and Aaron come together (notice how they're all separated) and we're going to see them get off the island. Something bad's going to happen on that freighter (explosives!), and we'll probably get some sort of Ben/Widmore/Penny bit (remember Ben's out for Penny's blood, and if Desmond doesn't die on the freighter, he's going to have something to say about that in the future)

So next season, the producers said the flashes will become not so distinct, like maybe we'll have different stories occurring in different times with different characters... I don't know. Maybe the finale will end with the Oceanic Six returning to the island. It would be a few years, Aaron was two in Kate's flashforward, so maybe we'll have off island and on island flashes. Or something. If none of this makes any sense, sorry. Lost makes my head run in circles.

Random
-  A lot of people think that Claire died when her house was blown up. It was awfully convenient that she was found under that mess. Plus Miles kept looking at her all funny, and he's all Sixth Sense. And now with her in the Cabin, she might be kind of undead, like Christian. No corpse, corporeal, in cabin... I mean this is Lost, much stranger things have happened.

- I'm still not fully certain what Christian's role in all of this is. Maybe he's the Monster keeping Jacob suppressed. Maybe Jacob will have a flipshit and there will be this weird Monster showdown.

- I'm pretty sure Jin's going to die. The whole "He's just on the island" thing isn't looking so great after the first part. Sun's acting like he's dead.

- So, we've only see Richard Alpert not age, so I don't think it's a native thing about islanders. What if it has to do with activating the Orchid station to move the island. Like if you create a worm hole, that can mess with all sorts of space/time properties, and it through some sci fi-ness, it could stop your aging or something. I mean, if someone can become unstuck in time on this show, anything can happen.

- Well I liked this season's Locke flash back. Sometimes character flashbacks can get annoying, like Locke's generally show him being trusting and getting burned. Jack's show him needing to save everyone and be a hero. Sawyer's are about the rugged man with a heart of gold. The point is it gets predictable. This season, the writers really stepped it up by going in different directions with the flashbacks and forwards. Locke's showed a completely different side of him (the prophet side) and we saw him growing up. Plus we saw the unaging Richard, which is always fun. I'm so glad the actor's show on CBS got cancelled, now he can be on Lost more!

Quick reminder about Lost: Tomorrow at 8/7c., there will be a repeat of the first part of the finale with additional footage of the Oceanic Press Conference. I'm looking forward to some more questions! 

The past few nights I've been watching all the Indiana Jones movies. I can't believe I'd never seen them before. Major lapse in judgment on my part. They're fun and exciting and actiony. I'll probably see Crystal Skill tomorrow or Friday. Still haven't gotten around to see Speed Racer, I'm considering waiting until it comes out on Blu-Ray or on the HD movie channels.

In other news, there's going to be a live Diggnation taping in NYC next Wednesday, and I'm so going! I'm not sure who'll I'll go with, but it's going to happen. I've been waiting for so long to see Kevin and Alex live, I'm not missing out on this! Whee!

Oh, and Lost tomorrow. Yeah, I still haven't written up any pre-finale thoughts. I'l do that after I finish up with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.